ISSN 1064-2293, Eurasian Soil Science, 2006, Vol. 39, No. 7, pp. 699704.

Pleiades
Publishing, Inc., 2006. Original Russian Text L.I. Inisheva, 2006, published in Pochvovedenie,
2006, No. 7, pp. 781786.
GENESIS AND GEOGRAPHY OF SOILS
Peat Soils: Genesis and Classification
L. I. Inisheva Siberian Research Institute of Peat, Siberian Division, Russian Academy of
Agricultural Sciences, ul. Gagarina 3, Tomsk, 634050 Russia Received December 9, 2004
Abstract This paper considers three topical problemsthe definition of peat soils as natural
historical for- mations and the estimation of their profile thickness, the analysis of the genesis of
organic soils, and the prin- ciples of the classification of peat soils. Based on the experimental
data of long-term studies, it was concluded that peat soils may include the whole peat layer and
the upper horizons of the surface mineral soil. The organic and mineral parts of the natural
structures were found to be a genetically homogeneous soil profile, which has the same history
of development. The upper layer of the peat soils should be considered as the horizon reflecting
the contemporary stage of the soil formation. A hierarchy of peat soils is analyzed for developing
their classi- fication. DOI: 10.1134/S1064229306070027
INTRODUCTION Peat soils consist of 5095% organic substances; they are excessively
moistened. These features deter- mine their polyfunctional nature. Botanists and geobot- anists
study the specific features of bog vegetation on peat soils and the climatic characteristics of the
period of the peat accumulation based on the stratigraphy of peat deposits, and they define peat
soils as bogs. Geol- ogists explore peat reserves for industrial purposes and consider peat bogs
as peat fields (economic deposits). Hydrologists study the hydrological regime of bogs and
determine them as water bodies. Foresters study bogs from the position of improving the quality
class of for- est stands and call them forest bogs. Soil scientists study peat soils as agricultural
highly fertile soils. Each specialist has his or her own purposes and methods of studying peat
soils, but they study the same object. Over the long-term period of the studies, a great body of
data on peat bogs has been accumulated, their impor- tant biospheric role was proved, and
trends in the field of their conservation and rational use were determined [18]. However, the
essence of the peat formation mech- anism and the place of peat soils in the classification
system (and in soil science on the whole) remain uncer- tain. Therefore, the aim of this work is
to draw the attention of soil scientists to this problem.
According to Dokuchaev [6], It is impossible to agree with the statement that a natural soil is
identical to a plow layer. However, it is still more difficult to give the name soil to any rock just
because it occurs on the land and humans got the idea to grow some crop on it. Until the rock
does not change to a certain depth due to the joint action of water, air, and organisms, it is not
soil, it remains only rock Even in the soil classification of 1886, Dokuchaev distinguished the
class of typical peat bogs with their entire profile down to the mineral
rock. According to Efimov [7], many scientists, in par- ticular, Glinka, Williams, Vilenskii, and
Kravkov, sup- ported Dokuchaevs opinion. In 1937, Gerasimov [4] was the first to divide the

whole peat profile into peat soil and peat-forming rock; the peat-forming rock being a material
substrate for the peat soil. These views have been widely reflected in the work by Skrynnikova
[24]. According to this authors definition, a peat soil is the upper peat layer to the depth of
distributing the main mass of plant roots, which is aerated periodically, and it is a place where
plant falloff is decomposed and high- molecular organic compounds are formed. The deeper
peat layers cannot be called soil, since soil-forming processes are not recorded there and peat
itself is pre- served. This layer was determined to be an organogenic rock. At that time,
scientists accepted this notion of peat soils as an evident one. Thus, 1-m-thick high-moor peat
soil was differentiated into the upper straw-colored or brown-yellow T1 horizon of sphagnum
residues, the T2 horizon of brown peat with well visible plant residues, which graded into the T3
layer of dark brown peat.
The notion of active and nonactive layers (according to other authors, functioning and
nonfunctioning, or acrotelm and cathotelm) appears partly owing to the hydrologists studying
bogs [3, 1012, 19, 20, 22]. They associated this notion with the state of the water regime. It is
also known that the boundary between the active and inert layers is considered as conventional
to some degree. For instance, our investigations showed that Serdobolskiis gradation accepted
for the redox condi- tions [23] was unsuitable for peat profiles, and Eh = 0 mV was used for a
more correct determination of the boundary between its layers [13]. Such a choice made it
possible to hypothesize and prove that, in the natural soils, the active layer was much thicker
than that pro- posed by Ivanov on the basis of the mean annual mini699

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INISHEVA
mal level of the bog water when analyzing the anaero- bicaerobic conditions within the whole
peat profile. According to studies of other researchers [8, 16], the organic matter content and the
hydromorphic features of peat soils determine their stability to their obligatory anaerobiosis.
Specialists in amelioration were also interested in the 1-m-thick layer, since the rate of drainage
was, as a rule, limited by this depth. It is quite possible that the mentioned circumstances
became the reason for expanding Skrynnikovas concept of peat bogs. What actually happens
is that such a definition imperfectly reflects the substantivefunctional and geneticevolutionary features of peat soils.
The authors results and the materials of other researchers make it possible to consider that a
source of mineral nutrition for peat-forming bog plants is the waterlogged mineral substrate
(mineral soil). The investigations of oligotrophic soils in the southern taiga subzone of Western
Siberia [14] have revealed their mesotrophic character due to the elevated contents of calcium,
magnesium, and some other biogenic ele- ments in the oligotrophic part of the soil profile,
where the mineral nutrients are supplied only with atmo- spheric precipitation. However, these
elements were contained in great amounts in the underlying ancient soil and migrated following
the accumulating peat layer. The main amount of ash elements accumulates in peat at the initial
stage of its formation, when their source is a mineral substrate; in the case considered, it was
calcareous clays. The roots of peat-forming plants consumed calcium from this layer. Thus, the
redistribu- tion of elements within the profile of these peat soils is characterized by the decrease
in their concentrations toward the top layers. As a result, in the territory stud- ied, oligotrophic
peat soils with features characteristic of the mesotrophic type of peat formation have developed. Previously, this process was called the biogenic migration of elements, and it was
described by Bakh- nov [1]. The same arguments were also true for the iron content, since the
territory investigated was located in an area of iron ore deposits. Thus, the ancient soil exposed
to waterlogging serves as the soil-forming rock in respect to the developing soil, and a close
genetic connection remains between them in the future.
The formation of the peat profile in terms of the migration of elements within the soil profile (the
soil- forming process) is considered below. The migration of elements toward the parent rocks in
peat soils is consid- ered to be weak because of their high water-holding capacity and weak
filtration of water. This fact is true for the soils developing in the area even now. However, the
nonuniform topography of the bog causes the redis- tribution of gravitational water within bog
bodies resulting in the formation of autonomous, transitional, and transaccumulative
geochemical microlandscapes [15]. The water overflow takes place down the peat proEURASIAN SOIL SCIENCE Vol. 39 No. 7 2006 file and upward within the bog bodies and is
determined by specific features of the soil-forming process.
In this connection, let us consider peat soil as a sub- aqueous genetically in situ system.
According to Tar- gulian [26], the specific properties of the soil are dis- played when it is

considered as a surface-planetary, exogenic, polydisperse, multiphase system with a solid

substrate; it is a bioabiotic, bioproductive, and sub- aerial system that has formed and is
functioning in situ. In this case, the soil formation is the accumulation of residual products of
functioning in the solid, liquid, and gaseous phases. The in situ infiltration processes pene- trate
into the deep layers of the rock and transform them in situ without transportation of the main
rock mass and the newly formed products. In mineral soils, the pre- vailing direction of the latter
processes is a downward one due to gravitation forces, whereas peat soils develop upward due
to the accumulation of peat. There- fore, the upper layer of peat soils corresponds to the
present-day environment and reflects the current devel- opmental phase. The lower layers
represent the previ- ous stages of the soil development. All the arguments mentioned above
attest that peat soil is an in situ sub- aqueous system with a minus sign (developed upward).
The ancient mineral soil is the layer of the biolithos- phere that was formed under the conditions
of long- term and permanent excessive moistening under hydro- philous vegetation. As a rule,
the upper part of this layer is gleyed and acts as a soil-forming material for the peat soil growing
upward. It is also a zone of functioning flows of matter and energy resulting in the development
of a peat soil, the properties of which are firstly deter- mined by the botanical composition of the
peat. The peat soil is composed of layers whose thickness depends on the homogeneity of the
botanical composi- tion of peat. Thus, the notion of a peat soil includes the whole peat profile
and the upper mineral horizons of the ancient mineral soil. The organic and mineral parts of
peat soils are regarded as a substantive and functional system representing a genetically
integrated soil profile reflecting its own history of development. The upper 1- m-thick horizon of
peat soils would be more properly considered as a part of the soil profile reflecting the cur- rent
stage of soil formation with more intense biochem- ical processes. Moreover, the deeper
horizons are also biochemically active. The studies carried out on the oli- gotrophic bogs
showed that fungal spores, actinomyce- tal mycelium, and bacteria were present within the
whole 3-m-deep profile of the peat soils. The fungal mycelium was found in the soil profile up to
a depth of 70100 cm [5]. If the bacterial population decreased gradually with depth, the density
of the fungal spores and actinomycetal mycelium was frequently higher in the deeper layer of
the peat profile. This statement is based on particular examples (Table 1).
The peat profile (point 3) is of the marshy type, and it is composed (from the bottom to top) of a
low-mire horse-tail and sedge peat layer of 1 m thick and a tran- sitional woodysphagnum (0.5
m thick) layer overlain

PEAT SOILS: GENESIS AND CLASSIFICATION 701

Table 1. The limits of the variation for the number of microscopic fungi (A), fungal biomass (B),
and the carbon content (C) in the oligotrophic peat
A, mg/kg B, kg/m 2 C, %
Object
The depth of the peat deposit, cm
50 100 300 50 100 300 50 100 300
3 28 1021 1314 0.050.1 0.20.4 0.30.5 0.21 0.40.8 0.10.2 5 226 530 1136 0.05
0.7 0.20.9 0.51.2 0.23 0.32 0.31
Table 2. The enzymatic activity of virgin peat soils
Depth, cm
Botanical composition Invertase 1 Catalase 2
Polyphenol- oxidase 3
reductase Nitrate4
reductase Nitrite5
High-moor peat soils, the middle taiga 2575 Sphagnumwaterlogged 65.92 0.63 0.00 4.94
3.52 75125 ScheuchzeriaSphagnum 44.32 0.42 0.62 4.91 5.26 125150 Scheuchzeria 24.41
0.71 0.93 3.60 4.37 150175 " 22.37 0.22 0.49 3.73 7.01 175200 " 17.24 0.56 1.81 3.63 5.89
200225 Transitional woody Scheuchzeria 27.50 0.44 3.41 4.80 4.70
Low-moor peat soils, the southern taiga subzone 025 Woody 74.45 3.30 1.33 19.33 4.69 75
100 " 37.56 0.90 0.67 8.09 3.85 150175 Woodysedge 49.15 0.78 0.61 5.41 2.03 225250
Sedge 33.75 0.87 0.99 7.88 13.03
1
mg of glucose per 1 g for 4 h. 2
ml of O
2
per 1 g for 2 min. 3

mg of 1.4 n-quinone per 1 g for 30 min. 4

mg of reduced NO
3
per 1 g for 24 h.
5
mg of reduced NO
2
per 1 g for 24 h.
by thick (1.5 m) raised-bog peat ( Sphagnum magellanireductase) in the 0- to 25-cm layer; with depth (even in cum and S. fuscum ) layers. The profile
at point 5 (2.5 m)
the 75- to 100-cm layer), it decreased. Thus, the bio- is composed of sedge and woodysedge
peat (1.5 m)
chemical processes took place in the deep layers of the underlain by transitional Scheuchzeria
Sphagnum
peat soils, but the biochemical characteristics of these (0.4 m) and high-moor sphagnum peat
layers. The
layers differed from those of the upper ones. microscopic fungi are distributed within the profile
rather evenly. In the 0.5-m layer, the share of fungi averaged 35% of the total number of
micromycetes; in the 100- to 300-cm horizon, it averaged 27%.
The given viewpoint is supported by the changes in the chemical composition of the peat along
the profiles of peat soils. In the same kinds of peat, the concentra- tions of water-soluble and
easily hydrolyzable com- The results of the long-term studies on the enzypounds were shown to decrease with depth, and that of matic activity showed that it was
determined by the
humic acids increased [21]. These phenomena could presence of microbiological and plant
enzymes and
not be accidental, since they took place due to the trans- reflected more fully the biochemical
activity of the peat
formation of easily hydrolyzable compounds. This fact soils. In the high-moor peat soils, an
elevated invertase

emphasizes once more that, under the anaerobic condi- activity was recorded only in the upper
1-m-thick layer;
tions, the chemical composition of the peat-forming the other enzymes were distributed more
evenly within
substrate continues to change. In the deep peat layers, the profile (Table 2). In the low-moor
peat soils, the
instead of the microbiological processes proceeding enzymatic activity increased (according to
the activity
under aerobic conditions (mainly hydrolysis), other of the catalase, the polyphenol oxidase, and
the nitrate
biochemical processes promote the organic compounds
EURASIAN SOIL SCIENCE Vol. 39 No. 7 2006

702
INISHEVA
CO
2
emission, mg/day per 100 g 40 35
it is located more closely to the surface and, conse- quently, has a higher content of nutrients
available for microorganisms. However, this difference is obvious only for the high-moor peat. In
the low-moor peat soils, 30 25
it was insignificant, although the depth of the sampling was different (0.75 and 3.5 m). The
results obtained showed that biochemical processes proceeded actively 20 15
in the peat at any depth and that it was rather fertile. The upper layer of the peat soils should be
considered more correctly as the part of the soil profile at the current 10 5
stage of soil formation. The intensity and character of the biochemical processes are
determined by the botan- ical composition of the peat composing the profile of 0
4 peat soils.
One can say that the organic profile of peat soils does not always change with depth, i.e.,
biochemical processes weakly develop within it. There are thick (of many meters) layers of
weakly humified sphagnum peat where the biochemical processes are hindered due to the
presence of antisepticsphenol-containing hard- eners and antioxidants. Therefore, the
oxidation protransformation toward their humification. The aerobic and anaerobic microorganisms are
different in their cat- alytic and thermodynamic action, as well as the charac- ter of the
decomposing of the organic matter. Therefore, the primary decomposition of the dead peatforming plants (mainly, of mosses) is performed by abundant fungi dwelling in the upper layer.
With the depth, under developing anaerobic conditions, the fungi give way to yeasts and
bacteria that continue to slowly but steadily decompose the peat organic matter [5, 9, 21]. Thus,
using the hypothesis of the fast termination of the peat formation in the upper biologically active
layer of the peat profile, one cannot explain the increase in the humic acid content and in the
carbon concentration in these acids with depth, as well as the synthesis of bitu- men.
All the peat layers that have passed the stage of bog soil formation contain microorganisms and
nutrients of biogenic origin, and they are potentially fertile. An example is the worked out peat
deposits that represent full-value agricultural lands (by their biological proper- ties). Their fertility
is determined by the botanical com- position of the peat that is turned out on the surface and
does not depend on the depth of the exposed layer.

The biological activity of peat at different depths was studied in experiments on the kinetics of
the organic matter decomposition. Samples were taken of high-moor and low-moor peat.
Sample 1 is Sphagnum fuscum peat from a depth of 0.75 m (degree of peat decomposition
10%, ash content 4.4%), and sample 2 is Sphagnum fuscum peat from a depth of 1.75 m (10%
decomposed, ash content 7.8%) representing the highcesses within the peat profile are inhibited (the peat mineralization is retarded even in the
tropics and in peat enriched with ash elements). Nevertheless, within this peat layer,
biochemical processes proceed as evidenced by the presence of the microflora there.
A 12-m-thick peat profile was studied. In the 0- to 25-cm layer and at a depth of 12 m, the
number of bac- teria was 44.52 3.34 and 2.97 0.16 billion/g, respec- tively. The length of the
actinomycetal mycelium was 412.83 57.15 m/g and 68.83 3.7 m/g, respectively, whereas the
fungal spores amounted to 58.58 27.23 and 6.23 1.39 million/g, respectively. The particularities mentioned do not indicate the inert biochemical processes. The latter proceed and vary in
compliance with the changing environmental conditions. The same feature is also characteristic
of the mineral soils. For instance, an excessive iron content in a soil determines the properties
that permit us to classify the soil at the level of soil species or subspecies.
The forms of soil formation are naturalhistorical categories, the evolution of which are
considered as a single genetically related process of the successive development of
hydrozemic, atmozemic, and lithozemic soil formation [2]. Each soil formation developed does
not vanish; it appears and it continued to develop within the previous one. The age of the most
ancient underwater soils is 3 billion years, that of bogged and lithozemic soils is 400 million and
60 70 million years, respectively. Thus, on the Earth, along with lithozemic soils, underground
and bogged soils are also spread. Presently, the area of the latter contin- ues to increase. moor
peat. Sample 3 is low-moor sedge peat (15%
From the aforesaid, the history of bog soil is decomposed, ash content 7.8%) from a depth of
0.75 m,
reflected in the stratigraphy of the peat profile, and the and sample 4 is low-moor sedge peat
from a depth of
underlying mineral substrate is an ancient soil trans- 3.5 m (25% decomposed, ash content
7.3%) (figure).
formed by waterlogging. The peat profile (the stratigra- The same kind of peat is mineralized
more intensely if
phy of the peat thickness) along with the mineral subEURASIAN SOIL SCIENCE Vol. 39 No. 7 2006 1 2 3 4
9 14 19 24 29 34 39 44 5449 59 Days of experiment
The influence of the depth on the intensity of the peat decomposition: ( 1 ) high-moor peat, 0.75
m; ( 2 ) high-moor peat, 1.75 m; ( 3 ) low-moor peat, 0.75 m; and ( 4 ) low-moor peat, 3.5 m.

PEAT SOILS: GENESIS AND CLASSIFICATION 703

strate and soil-forming processes represent a peat soil. The upper layer of the peat soil should
be considered as a part of the profile corresponding to the current stage of the soil formation. In
the theory of the peat-forming process, the main attention should be paid to the prob- lems of
the transformation of the peat-forming plants into peat; the origin and transformation of the
organic and mineral peat components; the accumulation, the transformation, and the migration
of substances within the peat profile; and revealing the forms of their accu- mulation and
migration. These soils need special atten- tion, since every fifth hectare of the Russian land fund
is represented by peat soil.
The existing notions of peat soil as an active layer of the peat profile have been reflected in the
modern clas- sification of these soils [17]. Since this problem is worth special discussion, we
shall outline only some paths for the further work in this direction.
Peat soils consist of plant residues. Therefore, it is more correct to investigate and classify them
from the botanical standpoint. There are interesting works in the field of bog and peat land
sciences that are known in the world. They may be used in the solution of this prob- lem. The
botanical composition of peat means the inte- gral combination of all the fossil tissues, on the
basis of which an initial phytocenosis and its genesis might be clarified. The name of the kind of
peat is given accord- ing to the predominant peat-forming plant revealed (in percent). For
instance, if the contents of sphagnum, cot- ton-grass, and wood residues in peat are 70, 20, and
10%, respectively, its name will be cotton-grasssphag- num peat. The degree of decomposition
and ash content are also determined, since these characteristics are as important as the
botanical composition of peat.
For instance, peat is considered to be oligotrophic as it is formed by plants representing
vegetation of the oli- gotrophic type (the admixture of plants of the eutrophic type is less than
5%). Eutrophic peat is composed of plants representing vegetation of the eutrophic type (the
admixture of oligotrophic plants is less than 5%). The species composition of all the peatforming plants is known. The characteristic features of peat types should be described and
identified on the basis of their botani- cal composition. Computer-based processing of the data
may be used [25].
The whole peat deposit should also be clearly iden- tified. A low-moor peat deposit is a peat
land that is fully or half composed of low-moor peat, and the thick- ness of the layers consisting
of high-moor peat does not exceed 0.5 m [25, p. 21]. This definition is correct, since any peat
profile of any thickness (including a peat layer with a thickness of up to 1 m) may contain highmoor, low-moor, and transitional kinds of peat. The order of peat soils should include
transitional, or mesotrophic, types of peat soils, since they really exist and are worthy of a
position in the peat classification equal to that of the high-moor and low-moor types of peat. As
an example, 70% of the Vasyugan bog (5 million ha) is occupied by peat soils of the transitional type. The soil subtypes are distinguished
according to the presence of wood residues in the peat. The residues present reflect the
moisture conditions and indirectly indicate the botanical composition of the peat. Then, each

peat type may be subdivided into three subtypes: woody, grass, and moss. The genus level may
corre- spond to the kind of peat (for instance, cotton-grass sphagnum), since this characteristic
clearly reflects the properties of the peat organic matter. However, the peat transformation and
its resistance to this process are determined precisely by the botanical composition of the peat.
Undoubtedly, the classification of peat soils needs further correction.
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